LPD ASSIGNMENT

(THANKAM KRISHNAN, A3211117237)

Discuss the role and importance of Niti Aayog. Analyze the new initiatives of the Aayog in the
light of Sustainable Development Goals?

NITI AAYOG

NITI Aayog is the government-funded think tank that was created on January 1, 2015. Its
mission is to create a strong and prosperous India. NITI stands for “National Institution for
Transforming India”. It is the country’s premier policy-making institution that is expected to
bolster the economic growth of the country. It aims to construct a strong state that will help
to create a dynamic and strong nation. This helps India to emerge as a major economy in the
world. The NITI Aayog’s creation has two hubs called “Team India Hub” and “Knowledge
and Innovation Hub”.

The NITI Aayog is a State of the Art resource center that will enable it to act swiftly and
efficiently in order to provide effective and timely solutions to the government and the
public.

Objectives of Niti aayog-

• The active participation of States in the light of national objectives and to provide a
framework ‘national agenda’.
• To promote cooperative federalism by developing a well-ordered support mechanism
with the States.
• A balanced and realistic economic policy that incorporates the national security
interests of the country.
• To encourage collaborations between think tanks and other institutions. To provide
advice and support to key influencers.
• To create a conducive environment for the growth and development of knowledge,
skills, and entrepreneurial support systems.
• To preserve a repository of good governance and development best practices.
• The objective of the Resource Centre is to be a center that collects, interprets, and
distributes best practices in sustainable development.
• This process aims to identify and implement programmes and initiatives that are
designed to improve the effectiveness of the organization.
• To promote the use of technology in the areas of education, health, and economic
development.
• An economic policy that recognizes the national security interests of certain sections
of the society. It proposes long-term and strategic frameworks and initiatives.
• To provide advice and encourage collaborations between educational and research
institutions, policymakers, and national-international think tanks.

Role of Niti Aayog- NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the adoption and monitoring
of the SDGs in the country and promote competitive and cooperative federalism among
States and UTs.
The task at hand for NITI Aayog is not just to periodically collect data on SDGs but to
proactively realise the goals and targets. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation (MoSPI) has already undertaken a parallel exercise of interaction with the
Ministries to evolve indicators reflecting the SDG goals and targets.

NITI Aayog in consultation with MoSPI has prepared a draft mapping of the goals and
targets as an initial step. Further, the centrally sponsored schemes, including the ‘core of the
core’, ‘core’ and ‘optional’ schemes implemented by the States, and some of the recent
initiatives undertaken by the Central Government have been mapped. Moreover, Ministries
and States are implementing central sector schemes and state schemes, respectively, aligned
with one or more SDGs. This mapping can be accessed here.

7 Pillars Of Effective Governance Envisaged By Niti Aayog- The NITI Aayog is based on the
7 pillars of effective Governance. They are:
• Pro-people: it fulfils the aspirations of society as well as individuals
• Pro-activity: in anticipation of and response to citizen needs
• Participation: involvement of the citizenry
• Empowering: Empowering, especially women in all aspects
• Inclusion of all: inclusion of all people irrespective of caste, creed, and gender
• Equality: Providing equal opportunity to all especially for youth
• Transparency: Making the government visible and responsive

NITI Aayog Composition- The NITI Aayog will comprise the following:
• Prime Minister of India is the Chairperson
• Governing Council consists of the Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governors
of Union Territories in India.
• Regional Councils will be created to address particular issues and possibilities
affecting more than one state. These will be formed for a fixed term. It will be
summoned by the Prime Minister. It will consist of the Chief Ministers of States and
Lt. Governors of Union Territories. These will be chaired by the Chairperson of the
NITI Aayog or his nominee.
• Special invitees: Eminent experts, specialists with relevant domain knowledge, which
will be nominated by the Prime Minister.
• The full-time organizational framework will include, in addition to the Prime Minister
as the Chairperson:
- Vice-Chairperson (appointed by the Prime Minister),
- Members: Full-time,
Part-time members: Maximum of 2 members from foremost universities,
leading research organizations, and other innovative organizations in an ex-
officio capacity. Part-time members will be on a rotational basis.
- Ex Officio members: Maximum of 4 members of the Council of Ministers
which is to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
- Chief Executive Officer: CEO will be appointed by the Prime Minister for a
fixed tenure. He will be in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
Initiatives of the Aayog in the light of Sustainable Development Goals-

• Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH): aimed at initiating

transformation in two key social sectors—education and health, by hand-holding
States towards improving their social sector indicators and providing technical
support over three years. It was launched with selection of states through an unique
challenge method. Roadmaps for State transformation have been finalised with
quarterly milestones for each initiative.
• Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat: conceptualized to make our country united, strong and
promote excellence in all walks of life by means of long-term inter-state engagements
through cultural exchanges and education. MoUs were entered with six paired
States/UTs. Dept. of Higher Education, MHRD continued the initiative.

• Transforming of 115 identified Aspirational Districts- To realise the vision of

‘SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas’, and ensure that India’s growth process remains inclusive,
the ‘Aspirational District Programme (ADP)’ was launched by the Prime Minister on
January 5, 2018.

• Three Year National Action Agenda and the Strategy for New India @75: The Action
Agenda framework allows better alignment of the development strategy with the
changed reality of India.

• The POSHAN Abhiyaan has been launched with the aim of improving nutrition
outcomes in India in the next three years.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) –The mission was launched on 2 October 2014. Since
then then about 3.64 lakh villages, 385 districts and 13 States and 4 Union Territories
have also declared themselves Open Defecation Free (ODF).

• Atal Innovation Mission- a flagship initiative of the Government of India, setup under
the aegis of NITI Aayog, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
The programs in the first phase have established a network of innovation institutions,
at the school and higher education levels.

• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana: A roadmap for Pradhan

MantriKrishiSinchayeeYojana was prepared and shared with the concerned Central
Ministries/Departments, the States and other stakeholders.

• Digital India: NITI acted as the key driver of the digital payment movement post-
demonetisation. It undertook an extensive advocacy and outreach programme to
promote pan-India digital payment. A mass literary movement across Ministries,
industry bodies, educational institutions and States was undertaken. 100
DigiDhanMelas were organised over 100 days in 100 cities. Undertaking information,
education and communication to incentivize States/UTs,five crore Jan Dhan accounts
were brought to digital platform. The Lucky GrahakYojana and the
DigiDhanVyaparYojana schemes were also launched to promote digital payments
across all sections of society.

• ‘Make in India: A NITI Aayog committee has prepared a roadmap for making the
body armour in India and submitted the same to the Prime Minister’s Office. The
 major recommendations made include, promotion of indigenous manufacturing of
body armours including raw materials, creating more testing facilities, adopting
Indian standards in body armours, setting up of Centres of Excellence to pursue R&D
in nano-technology materials for lightweight body armours and simplification of the
procurement process. All these initiatives would help in indigenous production of
body armour and meet the requirements of defence, para military and security
agencies.

• ‘SAMAVESH’, – a major initiative aimed at networking and partnership with

knowledge and research institutions using a hub and spoke model was launched.
Thirty four such Institutions have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with
NITI with the aim to share knowledge and link policy with practice.